New songs for St. Patrick's Day 2025!!

 Spoiler alert, none of them are Irish!! But here they are...

"Bonnet of Pins" by Matt Berninger:  This song marks Matt's first musical effort apart from The National, but the instrumentation of this song sounds awfully close to what he did with them! A crisp acoustic guitar, orchestral strings in the background, and a jolt of electric guitar to punctuate the chorus set "Bonnet of Pins," Matt's debut solo effort, into motion, and a horn section creeps in later to add more depth! With quiet, sweet female vocals to create a marked balance point to Matt's more somber baritone male vocals, "Bonnet of Pins" is a moody yet sweet piece of music like most of Matt's efforts with The National have been as well. An electric guitar solo gives the remainder of the song a crackling, potent feel!

"Gethsemane" by Car Seat Headrest:  At a staggering 10 minutes and 52 seconds, "Gethsemane" by Car Seat Headrest might just be the longest song I've ever reviewed! PHEW!! Is this indie rock or prog rock?! I truly don't know what I'm listening to here!! It sounds as if Beck, Yes, and Joy Division decided to form a jam band with one another!! The first part of "Gethsemane" sounds lightly prog-y with its Moog-y synths but is otherwise palatable to people who aren't prog nerds. About two minutes into the song, the guitars get heavier, and yet another two minutes, the Moogs are back in full gear! What even IS this song?! Frank Zappa would be proud of a song like this one!! Oh...the heavy guitars come back yet AGAIN around the 4- or 5-minute mark! Lyrically, there seems to be a lot of quasi-religious elements in this song. The word "tabernacle" is repeated a few times, and the title of the song refers to the place where Jesus prayed for the last time before his arrest and crucifixion. This is NOT your typical adult alt or alternative song! For anyone who ever wished Yes were secretly a punk rock band (which is probably not many of you), this one's for you!! Excuse me while I release myself from this unexpected head trip and calm down!!

"Keep Me Satisfied" by Jungle:   Oh my goodness!! I NEEDED a song UNDER 3 minutes after having a 10-minute epic, which is super rare on this blog! This song has an early '70s funk/R & B vibe, which I'm not surprised to hear from Jungle. The only other song I know of theirs so far is "Happy Man," which had a similar sound. There's a bit of a contemporary electronic influence to offset the classic soul influence the song has. Not really too much else to say about this song otherwise, but sometimes, simple is best!

"Pyramid Scheme" by Hurray for the Riff Raff:  Continuing on the path of rootsy country-rock that HFTRR did about a year ago for "Alibi," "Pyramid Scheme" is another quaint yet world-weary and yearning song from Alynda Segarra. The "Pyramid Scheme" in question Alynda is referring to might be none other than the internet itself! Specifically, she is aiming criticism at how anyone who attempts to make it big as an internet celeb who is also a musician tends to have a hard time with it because of how it doesn't reward musicians with as much pay as they should be getting. Perhaps it is also a way of illustrating how the internet manipulates musicians as opposed to recognizing them as worthy individuals. 

"Relationships" by Haim:  Showing off a pop-y hip-hop influence to Haim that isn't often highlighted in their music, "Relationships," the latest song from the sisterly trio, Haim, is not a song that celebrates sexual partnerships, but rather is one that condemns them. If the phrase "I can't stand f**king relationships" wasn't enough to clue you in about how Alana, Danielle, and Este feel about being in love, I don't know what would convince you about how they feel about 'em! A, D, and E might have been guests on Sesame Street just a year or two ago, but that doesn't mean they have a childlike mentality when it comes to romantic desires and their pursuits of what they want out of them! They know that "happily ever after" can't always be attained, and this song is the perfect way for them to vent their frustrations about it!